Manila, the Philippines – Veronica Bebero recalls the despair she felt being interrogated by police inside a locked room at the United States Embassy in Manila.National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) investigators wanted to know why she had used fake marriage annulment documents for her US visa application.
Tears streaming down her face, the Manila-based acupuncturist remembers saying: “This has to be a nightmare, right?”
Bebero had turned to a woman who claimed to be a judicial official to secure an annulment after the COVID-19 pandemic derailed her efforts to go through the usual court process.
After she and her US finance had paid some 500,000 Philippine pesos (USD 8,862) in legal and admin fees, Bebero was attracted by the promise of a speedy annulment for a fee of 210,000 Philippine pesos ($3,722).
“She said I’d have my annulment in three to six months,” Bebero, 50, told Al Jazeera.
Bebero’s annulment never came. As she learned from the police, she had been scammed.
“There is someone out there who wants what I want, a nice peaceful marriage. If someone is willing to give that then I want to be able to give that back,” said Bebero, whose engagement with her fiancé fell apart under the strain of losing so much money.
The extraordinary lengths Bebero was willing to …
